Repair

Putting down any line – the act of drawing –  is a minute act of faith in one’s impulse to communicate. Solid or broken, indicative of rupture or continuity, these lines can satisfy the itch for expression. Giving form to one’s experiences can be restorative and steadying.  As the artist Lynda Barry writes, “In the course of human life we have a million phantom-limb pains --losing a parent when you’re little, being in a war, even something as dumb as having a mean teacher--and seeing it somehow reflected, whether it’s in our work or listening to a song, is a way to deal with it.” The practitioners of the graphic narratives in this section are completing the thought, visually.  Their lines repair rift and silence, implying not only restoration in their own lives but in their aspiration of connection with the reader.